Fossil birds from the Roof of the World: The first avian fauna from High Asia and its implications for late Quaternary environments in Eastern Pamir.

ABSTRACT: The Eastern Pamir (eastern Tajikistan) is a high-mountain plateau with elevations up to 7000 m, currently characterized by extremely severe environmental conditions and harboring a specialized montane fauna, which in part is shared with that of the Tibetan Plateau. The modern bird fauna of High Asia comprises a diversity of both ancient and recently diverged endemics, and thus is of general importance for historical biogeography and understanding the origin of modern high mountain ecosystems. However, the past history of the Central Asian highland avian communities remains practically unknown, as no fossil bird assemblages from high elevation areas were previously reported. In particular, it remains completely unexplored how birds responded to late Quaternary climatic fluctuations. Here we

SUBMITTER: Zelenkov N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8550366 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature